Did you know....
People use banana leaves as a cooking foil for steaming idlis (steamed rice cakes) and kozhukkatais (steamed rice dumplings). It is also widely used as a packaging material for packing food and flowers (though this is now replaced widely by plastics). It has similar usage for certain kinds of food in the Philippines as well.

Stuffed green banana/Alcapurrias... made from a mixture of mainly green plantains and may contain ground squash, plantains, yautia and other starchy tropical tubers filled with ground meat or seafood and deep fried in oil.

Picture
Alcapurrias/Stuffed green banana
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Published:  2010/08/08
Yield:  Makes about 13
Prep Time:  About 20 min.
Refrigerate:  Dough (masa) until next day.  Then fill, shape and fry.


Ingredients              
Dough (MASA)                  (refer to the meat filler recipe)                    
  • 5 medium green bananas                       
  • 2 to 3 yautía blanca (taro root, white)                       
  • 2 tsp. salt                                              
  • 1 sazon con culantro y achoite                                          
  • Vegetable oil for frying
Directions:
Masa
Peel the green bananas and place in a bowl of cold water. Peel and wash the yautías and place in a bowl of cold water.
Grate(picture of grater shown below) the bananas and yautías with a hand grater. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and mix well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and store in fridge overnite.
Put it Together
Place dough on the palm of your hand and make a well in the center of the dough. Put 1 to 2 teaspoons of the meat filling into the well and cover it with some more dough and roll using both hands making sure that meat is completely covered in dough. You can freeze the alcapurrias at this point for eating later, or you can just fry them up fresh.  Heat enough oil in a fryer or deep frying pan to cover the alcapurrias when frying. The oil should be heated to about 360 degrees.  Add the alcapurrias, being careful not to splash the oil or crowd the fryer. Fry until crispy and golden. Drain the alcapurrias on paper towels and allow to cool before eating.

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